Sometimes wrestling is bad and dumb.
Sometimes Daniel Bryan and Kane are hugging each other and Johnny Saint is doing WWE show intros.
RAW (6/25/18)
More than anything this show just felt dumb. We’re in a weird limbo where nobody is sure how Brock Lesnar’s Universal Title reign is actually going to end. And on one hand, I’m like, “Cool. Uncertainty.” And on the other hand, I’m like, “Well that’s just pretty dumb.”
The Reigns/Lashley opening promo had Reigns actually kind of getting over by burying Bob Lashley, though to anyone who hasn’t seen his struggles on the mic for the last 5 years I’d imagine him trying to be a badass would feel pretty dumb
Those two vs. The Revival sure wasn’t some classic Revival match – these dudes have lost their confidence. Reigns and Lashley teaming gave me pretty bad 2005-2010 vibes of two Generic WWE Babyfaces Teaming and Arguing too. But god damn – Dash pinning Reigns is incredible.
Curtis Axel beating Matt Hardy in 30-seconds off a superplex bump was dumb.
Authors of Pain returned and did a squash where one of them slammed a poor fella from the inside of the ring onto the apron and that was nice but otherwise it was dumb. Not into these guys on the main roster yet though.
Alexa Bliss is a god damn superstar, but Natalya and Nia Jax as the babyface heroes to oppose her and her mom Mickie James is du. The Natalya vs. Alexa match had a whole lot of stuff that looked dumb too.
Sasha/Bayley/Ember vs. Riott Squad was like 3 minutes of dumb TV wrestling, but the Bayley beatdown of Sasha was one of two highlights on this show.
Not 100% positive why Bayley just snapped on Sasha, but here we are – “YOU AIN’T SHIT!” will be what’s remembered. Leave it to Sasha to bump her ass off for this too. This whole story feels completely blown but the angle was fun and Badass Bayley could be something cool.
Mojo Rawley vs. No Way Jose isn’t the worst angle for Mojo (and TODD) but it’s no Balor vs. Elias, a summer feud I will look back fondly at as something that kept two lower/midcard busy and got them over.
By the way – WHERE WAS ELIAS? Him not being on this show as dumb.
That setup for the Braun/Owens vs. Balor/Corbin tag was REAL dumb: “Constable Corbin was just teling me about how these combustible tag teams on RAW are REALLY interesting” – JESUS CHRIST.
The tag itself was just some hijinks around some through-the-motions action. In other words, dumb. The Braun car flip angle with Owens was amusing but EHHHHHH. No spark, man.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins for the IC Title was a good wrestling match. I’m never going to be into long stretches of DZ offense and I liked the title switch better, but this sucker got bumping and I just dig the idea of a Workhorse IC Title Main Event on Monday Night RAW.
The build to the Rollins comeback was a quality use of 20 minutes – I liked that he kept mounting comebacks and getting cut-off until McIntyre had to get involved. The last 5 minutes were especially great, as Rollins can close a match strong: the Ripcord knee and double-down spot, the SMILES when Rollins beat the countout off the apron DDT, and the incredible Zig Zag near fall.
Into a Reigns/Rollins vs. McIntyre/Ziggler match. Into Reigns vs. McIntyre. This show might have been dumb but there’s your hope spot.
SMACKDOWN (6/26/18)
Much like RAW, a show that closed real strong. Unlike RAW, the stuff before it wasn’t all that bad.
Unfortunately SmackDown continues to not be actually interesting. I mean I’ve got questions: What’s anyone’s motivation? What’s The Bar up to? What’s SAnitY’s deal? Where’s Samoa Joe at? Are we ever gonna see Andrade Almas wrestle?
MizTV with The Bludgeon Brothers sure was a sports entertainment. Miz has made a conscious decision to embrace his TV downtime and spend it trying to pop Vince McMahon, right?
Rusev vs. Xavier Woods was alright, but everybody still feels confused about the Rusev character stubbornly continuing on as a heel, so while some of the moves got pops I’m not sure anyone actually bought into the match. Rusev countering the roll-through clothesline was good TV though.
Rusev just playing Generic Top Heel en route to AJ Styles at Extreme Rules does not seem like the most interesting way to build up this match.
Trudy Campbell doing the G.L.O.W. Russian accent on SmackDown was good.
Jeff Hardy vs. Eric Young was a match between two vets but Jeff is limited and Young has never impressed me, especially as guy applying chinlocks to a WWE babyface. Also especially as guy that blew a Twist of Fate bump. It was a one-note match that worked because Jeff Hardy is over.
The Usos & Jeff vs. SAnitY to follow it was another ultra-basic match that worked because folks just wanted the the good guys to win. Those SQUEALS as Jey reached for the hot tag, man. Fun finish highlighted by Dain taking dozens of superkicks to go down. Just barely a real good match.
I think best case scenario for SAnitY is a babyface turn with Killian Dain as a top singles guy and Young/Wolfe as Bushwhackers 2018.
Becky Lynch vs. Sonya Deville was alright. Becky is a good wrestler but she is wrestling in a universe not built for her.
By the way – WHERE WAS SAMOA JOE? Him not being on this show as dumb.
At least Almas and Vega had a cameo. Can we get thi going already?
James Ellsworth as dorky alt-righter who studies Jordan Peterson and suddenly thinks he’s counter-culture by using a vehicle from the NY/NJ area is a nice angle. Excited for Ellsworth vs. Asuka.
Daniel Bryan vs. Harper was a little bundle of joy from those two. Really enjoyed Harper catching Daniel Bryan dives and throwing him into shit. Bryan’s selling + comeback = good wrestling that the crowd dug.
It’s incredible that after ALL this time, all of his lukewarm runs, WWE still manages to make Kane’s returns fucking AWESOME. The Team Hell No reunion complete with Bryan’s confused look and THE HUG was why we all watch this dumb thing.
205 LIVE (6/26/18)
YAWN
Tozawa vs. Tony Nese. Tony did athletic stuff. Tozawa went HAW! And also did athletic stuff. These two are good but after a year on 205 Live I feel like they have not evolved as professional wrestlers at all and are just running the same basic stuff and it kind of sucks.
Fine debut for young Lio Rush – this was no Jack Sparrow swinging onto screen, but it said what it had to.
Not sure what they were going for with the Lucha House Party vs. Kendrick Crew Elimination Match. Gran Metalik ran through his stuff and then jobbed to a headbutt 2 minutes in to crippling silence which was such a bummer and I’m not sure this match ever recovered. Lince got put in some holds and got eliminated after what felt like too long. Then Kalisto vs. Drew Gulak at the end had its moments but it definitely wasn’t enough.
NXT (6/27/18)
Tommaso Ciampa challenging Aleister Black for the NXT Title was the tale of two wrestling promos – one a guy who does not seem like a real person vs. one who does. The decision to have Aleister Black deliver these longform champion promos does not seem well advised. Ciampa meanwhile sounds just like prime Shawn Michaels – seriously, close your eyes and listen.
MAX HUMBERTO~! What a great wrestling name. Then he lost to Kona Reeves. Don’t look now but Kona Reeves is getting one of the more effective heat-ups on NXT in a while.
Lacey Evans is feeding for armdrags, working an arm, digging her forearm in the face on covers. This is someone paying attention in wrestling class. Candice LeRae’s fired up comeback and Lionsault was nice. This was a fine wrestling match on the television.
Kind of surprised Johnny Gargano is just on TV vowing revenge a week after it looked like Tommaso Ciampa just broke his neck, but if Gargano is going to be an official WWE superstar he needs to do the miraculous recovery trope.
Oh my god that beatdown on poor Dave Dixon and Carl Axelrod was the best thing The Undisputed Era has ever done. Incredible knee by Roddy to kick it off.
Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain & Ricochet was clasic 6-man wrestling that got Ricochet even more over – great match.
There were three parts to this:
First, a sweet early run by the good guys. Seven doing a Bate-assisted back bump followed by Ricochet doing a Bate-assisted backflip was good stuff. Bate getting in the bip and bop punch three times in a row was great stuff. Bate trying to do his Kofi rope thing and getting booted in the head was epic stuff.
Then Bate took a beating, which was alright.
Then Ricochet got the hot tag, and this man is one of the finest hot tags in all of wrestling. Business picked up when he went on his run: Trent Seven hitting people hard. Kyle O’Reilly countering a roll-through northern lights suplex with a choke. A big crazy finish with everybody throwing bombs. Ricochet backflipping out of the Total Elimination and almost pinning Cole. Undisputed Era Cheating 2 win. Awesome. So, so awesome.
MAIN EVENT (6/27/18)
This right here was an episode of WWE Main Event.
Chad Gable and Mike Kanellis are trying but soulless WWE wrestling between two underpushed guys isn’t very good.
I liked the weird Bobby Roode/Breezango vs. Curt Hawkins/Ascension 6-man though. Viktor and Tyler Breeze are doing boo/yay-offs. Bobby and Hawkins are doing dance-offs. Viktor is flying over the top to setup a hot tag. Roode is putting on a police hat. It was a very solid bunch of harmless fun.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Seth Rollins
Cool IC Title match and Team Hell No reunion aside, not a great week of TV.
RAW: 3/10
SmackDown: 5/10
205 Live: 3/10
NXT: 7/10
